Several school submitted proposals, and three schools were selected to receive a visit from Matt De La Pena, author of ‘Love.’ Those three schools invited other schools to attend as well, allowing the author to reach scholars from Franklin, Van Duyn, Syracuse Latin, Ed Smith, Lincoln, Danforth and ELMS!

Before speaking at Lincoln, Mr. De La Pena visited Ms. Diaz’ sixth grade class, where he autographed a copy of his book for each student.

“I really liked the book,” sixth grader Annah Maombi said. “It’s emotional, because it talks about how sometimes, things don’t go how you want… but that you’re not alone.”

“It was cool to meet the author, because this book is really good,” Ja’Nice Harrell added. “The illustrations are really nice, and I just love to read – it’s my favorite thing. I could read all the time!”

As the author met with a larger group in the school assemblies, he spoke about his own upbringing, read his book ‘Love’ to students and answered questions.

“My greatest hope for you is that you can fall in love with reading,” Mr. De La Pena said to students. “It only takes one book for you to see how powerful the reading experience can be!”

Thank you to Molina Healthcare for sponsoring Mr. De La Pena’s visits and for helping our students continue to develop a love for reading. Stay tuned as the year goes on to learn more about some of the projects our schools will be undertaking to help spread the love in their communities!